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The WEHI Advanced Genomics Facility

WEHI Genomics is set up primarily to provide the very best support for WEHI researchers engaged in research using genomics approaches.

We also work with institutional partners and selected collaborators around the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct to lower the financial and logistical barriers to entry into advanced genomics.

We operate at several levels:

  • Platform access: WEHI researchers may access some of our platforms to undertake their own experiments.
  • Transactional: We offer sequencing of users’ libraries on several platforms on a cost-recovery basis.
  • Service projects: We make available a range of validated technologies on a cost-recovery basis. Our R&D team may contribute to the implementation of complex projects.
  • Technology acquisition: We work with WEHI scientists and external partners to identify, prioritise and acquire new platforms, aiming to maximise the co-ordinated availability of genomics technologies locally.
  • Technology development and refinement: Our R&D team is active in adopting, modifying and validating genomics applications and we operate a limited program to develop novel applications from scratch.

For general queries about our activities and interests, please e-mail Dr Rory Bowden.

Genomics Hub

The WEHI Advanced Genomics Platforms Team operates a suite of sequencing and other genomics instruments, including Illumina MiSeq and NextSeq 500, Oxford Nanopore PromethION, MGI and PacBio Sequel, alongside 10x Genomics Chromium and MissionBio Tapestri.

We provide sequencing as a service to internal users, for Cellular Genomics projects, and on a limited basis to external researchers.

Please contact Dr Stephen Wilcox for more information.

Cellular Genomics

The Cellular Genomics Projects Team, formerly SCORE, provides single-cell and spatial omics, high-throughput transcriptomics and other advanced genomics capacity to WEHI researchers, institutional partners and selected collaborators around the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct.

We operate an integrated platform where biologists, technologists and computational biologists collaborate to apply the latest approaches to basic and clinical research questions, often with the assistance of our R&D team. By bringing a full suite of technologies together in one place we lower the financial and logistical barriers to entry into advanced genomics.

Genomics R&D

Members of the WEHI Genomics Lab, which hosts the WEHI Advanced Genomics Facility, have a substantial track record of adapting and implementing genomics methodologies and sequencing workflows, both for cellular genomics and in other areas such as pathogen genomics. The R&D Team, alongside the Projects and Platforms Teams, is responsible for the evaluation and introduction of new genomics instrumentation.

Current areas of R&D priority include:

  • sequencing technologies
  • spatial methods
  • high-throughput screens
  • epigenomics
  • cohorts
  • precision medicine

The Genomics R&D Team supports a proportion of Cellular Genomics projects that require methods development or validation on a collaborative basis.

We also undertake collaborative proof-of-concept studies in preparation for introducing new technologies and applications, and to support applications for scientific project funding.

Please contact Dr Rory Bowden to discuss collaborative opportunities.

Olink Proteomics Platform

Researchers are invited to access the Olink Proteomics Platform at WEHI.

Olink is a next-generation technology that quantifies thousands of biologically relevant proteins at low concentration in collections of clinical samples including plasma, serum, CSF and urine. Each protein is detected in a highly sensitive and specific way, using a pair of oligo-tagged antibodies to drive a proximity extension assay, generating target-specific DNA sequences that are measured by qPCR or next-generation sequencing. Protein quantifications are reported on a relative “NPX” log2 scale, enabling comparisons between samples.

Use cases include:

  • disease biomarker set discovery
  • profiling inflammatory mediators in disease and control patient cohorts
  • identification of protein Quantitative Trait Loci (pQTL) in tandem with genotyping data

For examples, see:

The WEHI Advanced Genomics Facility and Genomics lab offer the Explore and Explore-HT platform, while the mid-plex Target, Flex and Focus panels are run through our partners at the Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform. We also collaborate with WEHI Proteomics and WEHI Bioinformatics to facilitate projects integrating multiple ‘omics technologies and approaches.

Video: See how Olink Proteomics quantifies thousands of proteins from a few microlitres of sample

Genomics research at WEHI

Cell behaviour is controlled by the cells’ genetic material, made up of DNA. Genomics is the study of the entire DNA content of a cell or organism (its genome).

Our researchers are using genomics to better understand how diseases develop, and to discover new ways to diagnose and treat disease.

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